Daredevil Savior
I hear my brother screaming,
and through a window,
see him lying on the curb –
his head, arms and legs bleeding
He tried to ride my bike
again – the gray Huffy’s
20-inch frame – too much
for him to handle, but not enough
to shake his fearlessness
of anything larger than himself
not even our high-strung mom,
scolding his disobedience
after rushing outside with her prayers,
cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol
~ Alan King
Alan King’s fiction and poems have appeared in the Arabesques Review, Warpland, The Amistad, and Fingernails Across the Chalkboard: Poetry and Prose on HIV/AIDS, among others. A Cave Canem fellow and Vona Alum, his work was also part of Anacostia Exposed, a collaborative exhibit with Irish photographer Mervyn Smyth that showcases the life and energy of Anacostia.
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